The Immortal Duke’s Physician Is an Internist - Chapter 43

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Duke’s expression grew grave as he heard my words.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes. You burned that wig before, didn’t you? So he must have hastily procured a cheap replacement.”
Needless to say, we had not invited Count Marseya.
The intent of an uninvited guest crashing another’s celebration was all too plain.
To cause a scene, or to trample upon someone’s dignity.
“What should we do? He certainly didn’t come to offer congratulations.”
“Calm yourself, tutor.”
The Duke gave a hand signal toward some distant point, and Everain appeared as though carried on the wind.
“Your Grace. What is the matter?”
“Count Marseya is somewhere in the estate.”
Everain’s expression turned serious. He lowered his voice at once and spoke to us.
“The Knight Order shall conduct a search. You two are to remain here.”
“That won’t do! He must have come looking for me specifically. So I should be the one to find him.”
Every time I had read romance novels before now, I cursed the heroines for foolishly entangling themselves in danger and clinging to the hero’s feet. But now…
…when such a situation actually confronted me, I found I could not simply stand idle.
I wanted nothing more than to hunt down that madman immediately and strike him across the face with his own wretched wig.
“What if he causes trouble here? If that happens, how much scandal will befall the Duke’s House of Karseyido?”
“Then I shall escort you to a safe location, madam. His Grace cannot leave his post, so that would be the best course of action.”
Kaelun appeared, having pushed through the crowd at last, and said so. The Duke nodded and pushed me gently toward the door.
“Follow Kaelun. Wait somewhere safe.”
“But—”
“Tutor. There is a place where your talents will be needed, but it is not here. So for now, do as I say.”
I could not argue against the Duke’s firm words. In the end, I silently took my place beside Kaelun.
The Duke looked us both over once and spoke.
“Then to your positions. I shall rejoin the Knight Order once the funeral concludes.”
* * *
I followed Kaelun into the Duke’s Study. Kaelun impressed upon me several times with great earnestness.
“I will lock the door. No matter who asks you to open it, you must absolutely refuse. Once the situation has been resolved, we shall open it ourselves.”
“Don’t worry. …And I’m sorry. All this trouble has arisen because of me.”
“What are you saying! As I’ve always told you, we are very close Direct Descendants, are we not? Please trust me with this!”
For some time now, Kaelun had taken to using the term “Direct Descendant” which I had taught him.
Even in this serious moment, I was grateful for his thoughtfulness in trying to ease my tension.
“Yes, then I’ll wait here with confidence.”
“Yes! Please rest easy!”
With that, Kaelun locked the door. Left alone, I collapsed onto the Duke’s desk with a heavy sigh.
‘All right, let me not scratch where it doesn’t itch and just wait quietly. I’m not a heroine, after all, so there’s no guarantee the hero will come rushing to my rescue in a dangerous situation.’
With that thought in mind, perhaps I could leisurely browse the Duke’s library?
I was standing up with such intentions when it happened.
“Count, do you truly need to go this far?”
My hand froze upon hearing an unfamiliar voice.
I hurried to the window and peered out. By an unfortunate coincidence, three men were standing directly below where I stood.
“Changing your tune now? You’ve already taken the money—did you really think you could weasel out?”
As Count Marseya questioned them menacingly, the henchman holding a pickaxe offered an excuse.
“W-well, we were indeed tempted by the coin, but… we’re just farmers. While digging is our trade, desecrating someone’s grave is…”
“And if word gets out, we could face charges of Insulting Nobility, and on top of that, Insulting the Dead…”
The other henchman’s hands trembled as he gripped his pickaxe. The Count thumped his chest in frustration.
“There’s no one lying in that grave, you idiots! There is no Previous Duke of Karseyido!”
“P-pardon? What do you mean by that?”
“The Duke cursed by the Vampire’s Curse remains eternally young. The Previous Duke and the current Duke are one and the same person. Otherwise, how could they look so identical?”
I clapped my hand over my mouth in shock.
What in the world? How is that bald-headed pervert making such deductions?
Whether by fortune or misfortune, the henchmen regarded the Count as if he were a madman.
“…Of course, there are rumors circulating, but do you truly believe them?”
“Even so, such an absurd—”
“Quiet! Now follow me!”
The three disappeared into the darkness. Realizing they were heading toward the Garden, my heart began to race.
‘Damn it, if they actually dig it up, this will be a disaster…!’
Every time the Duke changed his identity, he had constructed the Previous Duke’s tomb in the estate’s Garden. Of course, there would be no corpse within.
But watching the situation unfold, it became clear that the bald count fully intended to desecrate the grave.
“Kaelun! I’m really sorry!”
I rushed to the Duke’s bed, grabbed a sheet, and tied its edge to the desk leg before stepping onto the windowsill.
Fortunately, the Duke’s study was only on the second floor, so it wasn’t terribly high—but that didn’t make the vertigo any less real.
During parachute training in the army, didn’t soldiers shout their lovers’ names on the way down?
With no name to cry out, I screamed into the night sky instead.
“God, making money is really this hard!!”
With that cry, I leapt into the darkness below.
I hurried after the count.
Assuming everyone would be absorbed in the funeral, they’d grown careless—and failed to cover their tracks. As a result, pursuit was simple.
I passed through the dark garden and arrived at the place where the Previous Duke’s tomb lay. At that very moment, Henchman A was about to strike the first shovel into the earth.
“Stop this right now, you lunatics!”
“Ahhhhh!”
Raw, unfiltered curses spilled from my lips. Henchmen A and B shrieked in unison.
The count himself spun around in alarm, staring at me.
“Lionel Frencia?! How did you get here?”
“Count Marseya! If you don’t leave this place right now, I’m reporting you for breaking and entering, Crime of Insulting the Dead, and everything else. And I’m putting a notice on the front page of the newspaper saying your hair is fake!”
The count seemed more threatened by the latter warning than by the prospect of criminal charges.
He appeared flustered for a moment, but soon regained his composure.
“Lionel Frencia. How much do you actually know?”
“Know about what?”
“I heard you became the Duchess of Karseyido. So did you marry the Duke knowing his true identity? Or are you in the dark too?”
The count wanted to confirm what I knew. Naturally, I feigned ignorance.
“What are you talking about? Are you suggesting the Duke might be bald like you?”
“Tsk, still as insolent as ever…… Fine, since you seem to be in the dark as well, I’ll enlighten you. The man you married has been impersonating the Duke of Karseyido for generations—deceiving everyone while never aging a day, is what I mean.”
I let out a scoff.
“A human who never ages? You actually believed such an absurd rumor and decided to dig up a grave?”
“Whether it’s absurd or not isn’t for you to judge, Lionel Frencia.”
Count Marseya bared his yellowed teeth in a grin.
“No one has ever actually seen when or where Duke Riccar died. It turns out the Duke before him, and the Duke before that—none of them held proper funerals, only announced their deaths. Don’t you find that strange?”
“The more distinguished a house, the quieter such matters are handled. Someone who wears a wig and prances about in loud fabric wouldn’t begin to understand that.”
“Ha! Brainwashed by a pretty face, I see. When I was young, every woman in the empire was mad for this countenance…….”
“Hahahaha! Oh my goodness, I’m sorry—it’s just too funny…… *clears throat*”
The laugh hadn’t come from me. The count glared simultaneously at Henchmen A and B, who had erupted in laughter alongside him, before turning his gaze back to me.
“So, Lionel Frencia. If you’d only married me instead, all this could have been avoided. Look how many people you’re harming—right now, at this very moment, you’re standing in my way.”
“Oh, you mean the Frencia couple? Bad people simply reaped what they sowed. Isn’t it about time you paid your own debt?”
“I’m not aware of any crime on my part. And you…… have no idea how dangerous your situation has become.”
At the count’s signal, the two henchmen tensed. They looked toward me, hefting their shovels and pickaxes.
“Lionel. I said I was fond of you, didn’t I? If I take you quietly…… where, I wonder, will the Duchess be found?”
“This bastard…….”
The two henchmen approached me slowly, their eyes full of trepidation. There was nothing truly frightening about those gentle, inexperienced eyes.
But I had to prevent them from knocking me unconscious and desecrating the grave.
“Try it if you dare!”
I clenched my fists. The count shouted in response.
“You two, knock that woman out at once! Don’t kill her, but teach her a lesson she won’t forget!”
And it was at that very moment the henchmen began to close in.
“My, someone certainly talks a lot for being so ugly.”
From the shadows, a figure stepped into view.
Brilliant golden hair and eyes of blue. A man in elaborate clothing gazed down at us with a frown.
“One can’t even mourn in peace with all this noise.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————